


Just Another Word I Never Learned to Pronounce

by PaperhatsAndEvilSchemes



Series: Paperhat? I'm Down For That [8]
Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, but he tries anyways, demon idiot doesn't know how romance works, extreme fluff, literally just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-18 08:01:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12384165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaperhatsAndEvilSchemes/pseuds/PaperhatsAndEvilSchemes
Summary: Romance is a difficult concept to grasp for hellish abomination eldritches, but at least he's trying





	Just Another Word I Never Learned to Pronounce

**Author's Note:**

> Author can be more easily reached and posts updates more frequently on their tumblr: https://paperhats-and-evil-schemes.tumblr.com/

_“I love you.”_

It was a phrase Black Hat had started hearing often from Flug. Admittedly, it took a lot of getting used to.

 _Love_. He’d  _always_ thought of it as such a revolting concept. Yet, he’d feel something strange whenever the doctor said it to him. Something… pleasant.

Even  _more_ shockingly, he found he had a desire to say it  _back_.  ** _Gross_**.

……… But still though. How is he to  _do_ that?

Every time he’s tried to even say it, he  _gags_ on his own words. Ugh, it’s so  _stupid_. Flug must think it’s  _ridiculous,_ trying to return a phrase so simple only to back out every time after choking on just the damn “L”.

No, it  _is_ ridiculous. Black Hat won’t let some– some dumb  _word_ get the best of him!

~~~~~~

Why does Black Hat always get so damn  _weird?_

I mean, at least this time it doesn’t seem like a  _bad_ weird, he doesn’t seem  _upset_ or anything… but he seems so  _distracted_ , like his mind is always in a deep focus on something  _other_ than what he’s actually doing. And he’s been muttering a lot. Seeming like he wants to say something, but…. can’t put it into words or something?

 _Is_ that all a  _bad_ weird? It’s hard to tell now.

—

Flowers weren’t a normal thing to see upon walking into the lab.

Granted, it was a  _lovely_ bouquet. An elegant arrangement of raven-black roses residing in a glossy ceramic vase placed right in the center of Flug’s work desk. The doctor walked over slowly, confused, and lightly brushed his fingers along some of the petals.

Upon closer inspection, he spotted one of those little tag card things tucked neatly between the roses. With a quiet chuckle, he plucked it from the bouquet, opening it up.

….It was covered in scribbles?

Looks like there had  _been_ writing, but it was all inked out as if it had been mistakenly written, just a small “From BH” scrawled awkwardly in whatever room was left in the corner.

Huh. Well, alright. Not the kind of presentation he’d expect from Mr.Presentable, but alright. Giving a pleased hum, Flug moved the vase from the center to the side of the table, getting out his work supplies for the day.

It had been a few hours until Black Hat eventually came to check up on things.

The demon slipped in soundlessly in a wisp of subtle smoke, waiting until he was right by the scientist’s side to materialize and surprise him with a peck on the cheek. “Good morning~” He purred, grinning.

Flug, after jumping slightly in his surprise, flashed his boss a grin in return. He certainly seems in a good mood. “Good morning, sir.” He greeted back, hands drawing away from the blueprints he’d been working on and over to the vase to lightly touch one of the roses. “Got your gift. They’re absolutely stunning.”

Smile only growing, Black Hat gave another purr and pecked his doctor’s other cheek before striding over to the front of his table and leaning against it, cane apparating in his hand with a twirl and chest puffed out like a proud peacock displaying its plumage. “Just like you~” he replied, suave and smooth. “Nothing but the best for my ravishing gem~”

Flug barely resisted the urge to shove his face into the roses to hide that damn blush his boss’s sweet talking always got out of him. Instead, curiosity helped him maintain eye contact. “So w-what’s the occasion…?”

Goodbye suaveness.

Face falling flat with what  _could’ve_ been mild alarm, Black Hat gave Flug a  _very_ blank stare. “There’s supposed to be an occasion?” Fuck fuck fuck he  _knew_ he should’ve looked more into gift-giving symbolism before getting these–

“Oh! N-No no, there’s not  _supposed_ to be–” Flug lightly slapped his own face with a chuckle. “This is just unexpected, that’s all!” He laughed, tilting his head. “You don’t usually buy things like… well,  _this…_ unless it’s for a reason…?”

….. Fair point….

“Hmph. Of  _course_ it’s for a reason, you  _moron_.” Looking away and crossing his arms, the demon straightened his back. “I just wanted to  _give_ you something, is simply all. Is that so wrong?”

Oh, he’s adorable when he has no idea what he’s doing. “Nooo, not at all,” Flug drawled with a smirk, leaning back, “It was a pleasant surprise. Just one question, though…” He waited until Black Hat was looking at him again to hold up the scribble-covered card. “Did you have a hand spasm while writing this or what?”

“……….Ah. Yes.” That was better than any explanation Black Hat could come up with, so he just rolled with that.

Flug’s grin stretched wider beneath his bag. “Can’t say I’ve ever noticed spontaneous hand spasms ever being a problem for you before.”

“Well, there’s a lot you don’t notice about me! I’m not even within your mortal capabilities of comprehension, don’t question me!” The demon snapped back, bristling.

Black Hat only rolled his eyes again when Flug wiggled his eyebrows. “Uh-huuuh.”

“ _Anyways_ …” The demon growled, crossing his arms, “I have an appointment with one of our clients on the mainland, won’t be back until late.” Turning to the door, he added, “Make sure Demencia and 5.0.5.  _behave_ while I’m gone.”

“Will do, sir. See you when you get back.” Flug replied, complying to the change of topic and returning to his blueprints. “Love you.” He added casually.

Black Hat tensed very slightly at those last words, glancing back at the working scientist. He almost tried to return the sentiment, but as usual, his response only turned into a low, neutral noise of acknowledgment.

Ugh. Idiot. One day he’ll get it right…

~~~~~~

They were tentative gestures. Little gifts here and there, not usually given in person but rather left neatly on his desk. Mostly typical things like flowers or chocolate, sometimes more things along the lines of Flug’s personal interests, like model planes and science-based items.

It was nice of him, sure, but also very… unusual. Especially not facing Flug directly with them, that was kind of odd.

Perhaps he simply feels too awkward about giving them in person and is trying to work up to that? But that seems so odd. They’ve been together far over a year now, this shouldn’t be anything so difficult.

…. Then again. This  _is_ Black Hat we’re talking about.

Well, in any case, the unexpected gifts eventually slowed to a stop at some point, so…. that was the end of  _that_ strange event…?

—

When it came time to translate blueprints into working machinery, Flug had, as usual, worked quickly and efficiently.

He had just been making some finishing touches to the small bracelet-like device he’d been creating, Black Hat lingering across the room from him going over and making adjustments to a recent contract with one of their business associates. Naturally, he had mostly been focusing on that task at hand, not paying too much mind to other things at the moment.

“I should be finished up here pretty soon.” Flug said suddenly, not taking his attention off the adjustments he was making.

“Hm?” Black Hat glanced up momentarily, taking a moment to register what had been said to him. “Oh. Good, good.” He replied, returning to his writing.

“I’d say this should be ready for filming in abooouuut…” He glanced up thoughtfully, trying to estimate an accurate time. Looking down to continue working, he estimated, “Twenty minutes?”

“Mhm,” The demon hummed, proofreading his adjustments and only half paying attention to the words coming out of his own mouth. “That’s fine, dove.”

….  _What_.

Flug’s eyes snapped over to Black Hat, eyes widened with confusion and surprise. “ _Dove?_ ” He repeated, sheer disbelief at what he just heard evident in his voice.

Black Hat realized his mistake immediately. His body stiffened, gaze shooting up from the paper he’d been distracted with, an equal amount of shock and more than just a touch of alarm written on his face. “ _I said **doctor!**_ ” He exclaimed.

……. That came off far more panicked and unconvincing than he was going for.

Before Flug had a chance to respond, Black Hat immediately started backing away to the nearest exit, casting a sharp growl his way.  _“Get back to work! That damned thing had better be working_ **perfectly** _before we start shooting!”_ He turned to leave only to have misjudged where the door was and smacked right into the doorframe in his haste.

“ ** _You didn’t see that!!!_** ” He shouted again before correcting his course and darting out of the lab like his life depended on it.

Flug could only stare out the door, completely dumbstruck, jaw dropped in shock as if he had just watched 5.0.5. recite 50 Shades Of Grey.

…. Now  _that_.  _That_ was straight-up  _weird_.

—

It took Flug a little longer than he thought to finish up, but who could blame him after  _that_ strange experience? Hopefully Black Hat wouldn’t be too upset. He knocked on the demon’s door, bracelet in hand, but got no response.

The doctor peered into his boss’s office to find it empty. He must be getting their filming location ready.

Well, that shouldn’t take too long. Might as well wait here.

Flug slipped the bracelet into his pocket and walked inside, eyes wandering around the room for no particular reason. Well, perhaps he might have been looking for something just a  _little_ out of place. Any sort of explanation for whenever Black Hat’s behavior got weird is always welcome.

….. Wait a second.

Black Hat’s company laptop is on his desk. He  _never_ uses that thing.

Looking around warily, Flug shuffled over to the edge of the desk and turned the device towards him. When he opened it up, he found a sleek little black notepad inside as well. He’d have to remember to look through that after searching the computer.

Okay… looks like no browsers are currently up…. would it be wrong to look through his internet history?

… Well. He’s already here. Might as well just go for it. So, he did just that, opened up Chrome and moved the mouse over to ‘History’–

Wait. First of all… What’s this site he has bookmarked…? Lunarose.com/advice….?

Deciding to leave his search through the history on hold for now, Flug clicked that instead.

…… Oh. My god. Porn would’ve been  _far_ less confusing than what Flug was greeted with. He had to shoot a hand over his mouth to stop himself from bursting out in laughter.

_What the fuck is this flowery-looking 'Relationship Advice with Luna Rose’ website???_

Once Flug was ( _somewhat_ ) convinced he wouldn’t keel over and kill himself laughing, he scrolled down until he saw a comment thread between his boss and this 'Luna’ person. Apparently they’ve been talking for a good few weeks now. Flug’s eyes scanned the screen until he found the beginnings of their interactions. From the looks of it, Black Hat….. came to her because he didn’t know how to say 'I  _love_ you’…? Is Flug  _reading_ that right…?

Black Hat’s internet etiquette seemed awkward to say the least, but this 'Luna’ stayed remarkably patient.

_[Everybody has a different love language. Maybe focus less on saying those words, but rather, find a way to **show** him instead.]_

**[How do you mean?]**

_[Well, let me give you an example. (Albeit non-romantic_ _, but my point will still stand.) I have an older brother whom I love very much, and he loves me the same, but in all my years of knowing him, he has never once told me he loves me. He shows that to me in other ways.]_

**[I don’t understand.]**

_[He tells me through his actions. Certain little 'sibling’ things he does, like tickling or good-natured ribbing.]_

**[I have to tickle him? I am not the type to 'tickle’.]**

_[Hahaha, no, I’m not saying those are the only things you can do. Like I said, just an example. :) There are other ways people can do it too, like surprising them with little gifts, for another example.]_

**[…What kind of 'gifts’?]**

_[Oh! Well, it depends on what kinds of things your partner likes. But if you’re unsure, a big favorite is always flowers!]_

**[What kind of flowers, then?]**

_[That part’s up to you. :) Try looking for something that will remind them of you.]_

…. Huh. That explains the roses. And the other gifts, for that matter…

But what about that whole ’ _dove_ ’ thing? That was random.

The doctor continued to scroll, looking for anything else that might shed some more light on things. He slowed at one of their more recent conversations.

**[I don’t believe this is working.]**

_[Why do you say that?]_

**[It**

**I just  
**

**It does not feel _correct_.**

**I want to tell him. I just want to _tell him_.**

**It’s so _easy_ for him, why can I not return such a  _simple_ set of words?]**

_[Don’t be discouraged. It’s easier for some than others, we know that already._

_But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible! If you feel you really need to tell him upfront, then follow that. Try practicing on your own, get yourself comfortable with the idea, look up things about love online, whatever helps you]_

**[…………**

**That sounds repulsive.]**

_[Haha, well, repulsive or not, I just hope it helps you. Besides, it’s your choice whether you actually **take** my advice or not, no? :p Whatever you choose, I wish you good luck!]_

Flug couldn’t help but crack a grin, and part of him was still internally giggling.  _Aww, Black Hat… Did you really needlessly put up with some random non-villainous civilian just for **that** …?_

Okay, this is just  _adorable_. Who  _is_ this imposter and what has he done with Black Hat?

When Flug ran out of conversational material between his boss and Luna, he hovered the mouse above the 'show history’ option and clicked.

_Holy crap this just keeps getting better and better._

He actually took her advice holy  _shit_ – there were pages upon pages of things to do with love - how to say it in different languages, cultural interpretations, _ahaha oh my god he actually looked up pronunciations for it oh my **god**_ –

Flug actually had to look away from the screen for a moment, borderline wheezing from the snickering he was trying to muffle.  _Then_ his eyes fell on the notepad, and he knew  _exactly_ what he’d be looking at next.

Only one page in and Flug was already hovering a hand over his mouth again to stifle yet  _more_ oncoming laughs.

Scribbles. Writing and then frustrated scribbles etching the words out. But from what Flug could tell, his educated guess would be that his dork of a boyfriend couldn’t even write 'love’  _down_  and was trying to  _practice_. It’s a wonder he even managed to type it into the searchbar so many times, holy  _crap_.

The doctor’s grin stretched wider with each flipped page, marvelling at the sheer dedication going into this personal little project of his. He appears to have taken notes on basically everything he’d been looking up from biological explanations of love to its relevance in art and most media nowadays. Flug almost felt like he was back at college again. Though his favorite part so far was 'Note to self: Haddaway is  _ **not**_ informative.’

Oh, wait! Did he just see something about doves?

Indeed he did. The bird seemed to have particularly intrigued Black Hat as he was looking under forms of love symbols.

_And Black Hat had been noting **comparisons** between Flug and the bird._

'Note: Doves are symbols of *scribbled incomprehensible mess, Flug assumed meant 'love’* and peace’

'Note: Flug is basically the manor’s peacekeeper, for hell’s sake’

'Note: Both are naturally exquisite’

'Side note: Dove rhymes with *scribble*? Relevancy questionable. Add to practice list’

'Note: Both can fly

'Side note: Well, doves can at least fly  _well,_ but still _.’_

Flug slapped his face into the book, a quiet, muffled scream escaping him as his face went red.

_This is so fucking cute and precious what the actual **fuck** –???_

“ ** _Doctor Flug!?_** ”

“ _Aiyeep!_ ” Flug squeaked in alarm, jolting back from the desk and spinning around to face the demon at the door.

His boss’s expression spoke one simple thing. ’ _Oh_ ** _shit_** ’. With a snap of his fingers, everything on the desk burst up in flames that disappeared just as quickly as they had come, leaving a mess of smouldery ash in place of the computer and notepad.

“ _Please_ tell me you didn’t.” Black Hat blurted out apprehensively, alarm ever growing. When all he got in response was a sheepish, awkward grin, the demon groaned and buried his face in his hands. “ _Eughhh, you **did** –_”

“Black Hat, I was j-just–” Flug tried so hard to keep a serious aura about him, but the laughing was getting far harder to stifle. Especially seeing that Black Hat seemed to be _blushing?_  Flug didn’t even know he could  _do_ that! “I-I was just worried– You’d been starting to act a l-little weird again, and I just wanted to make sure you were  _okay_ , and–” Despite his attempts to fight it, the scientist broke down into a fit of giggles.  _“Oh my god why didn’t you just **tell me?** ”_

 _“You know perfectly well why, because it’s **stupid**!”_  The demon snarled sharply,  _“In case you hadn’t noticed, you’re already bloody **laughing** at me! Which if you keep doing I’ll  **disembowel** you, by the way!”_

“B-Black H-Hat, no, I–  _Pffft_ –” Oh  _god_ , he could barely even get a  _word_ in past his own giggling. “I’m n-not laughing  _at_ y-you, I’m laughing  _with_ you!”

“ _ **I do not find this amusing!**_ ” The demon snapped sharply, cheeks only darkening further (much to his dismay).

Flug knew he really shouldn’t still be laughing, but that reaction only seemed to make it worse. He bent over, one arm around his stomach as more laughter poured out of him. “Oh my god, I think I’m gonna cry…!” He squeaked, out of breath and indeed almost tearing up.

Black Hat was getting more unimpressed with each passing second, looking away with an annoyed growl and crossing his arms. “I’ve half a mind to rip out your vocal chords, you know…” He muttered bitterly, tilting his hat down slightly to hide the dumb blush on his face.

The doctor shot one hand over his mouth area in some futile attempt to stifle his giggles, and started to lean his other arm against Black Hat’s desk for support to balance himself… only to flinch back with a yelp when he forgot it had just been on fire. And yet that  _still_ didn’t seem to halt his amusement.

With a roll of the eyes, Black Hat strode over to Flug’s side, a thin tentacle slipping out of his back and into Flug’s sleeve to coil around the mild burn and excreting a soothing coolant of sorts. “Are you  _done_ yet?” He huffed in annoyance.

He got a quick nod in response, a stupid grin still plastered all over Flug’s face, but at least he was  _trying_ to stifle his laughing now.

“ _Honestly_ ….” He huffed again, looking away in embarrassment. “Well, we can add  _this_ bloody mess to the list of things never to speak of again…”

“Aww, Black Hat…” Flug chuckled, wrapping an arm around the eldritch and leaning against him, “I’m sorry for laughing.  It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Black Hat only snorted, still looking away.

“And, um…” The scientist tilted his head slightly, trying to make eye contact and go for a reassuring grin. “I  _do_ know you love me, sir. You don’t have to worry about  _that_.”

At that, Black Hat shot him a quick glance, unsure, before looking away again in frustration. “How can I be sure you  _know_ that if I can’t even bloody  _say_ it?” With an annoyed sigh, he muttered, “It’s  _ridiculous_ …”

“Simple.” Flug raised an eyebrow, grinning wider. “You wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble if you felt  _otherwise_ , eh?”

“……… I…. suppose not…..” He admitted. With another low sigh, he slipped an arm around Flug in return, resting his head against the scientist’s. Things went quiet.

“….. So I’m like a  _dove_ , huh?” Flug smirked playfully.

“ _Ugh_.” Black Hat grimaced, “Don’t worry, I certainly won’t be making  _that_ slip again.”

“No, no, it’s fine! I like it, actually. It’s…” He paused, the first word popping into his head being 'sweet’… but something told him he’d better find a different word, considering his company. “It’s charming.” He finished, giving the demon a fond smile.

“…… Oh.” was all Black Hat could say.

Chuckling again, Flug stepped away and moved towards the door, deciding to be merciful and let the demon out of all this 'lovey’ talk. “So, uh, we should  _probably_ get to recording now, hm?”

Black Hat blinked, almost seeming confused as if he forgot there was even a commercial shoot scheduled today, before his eyes snapped wide in realization. “ _Oh_! Of course! Bloody hell, we’re  _already_ behind schedule!” With that, he was out the door in an instant. “That device of yours had better be functional!”

Flug rolled his eyes good-humoredly, chuckling again under his breath. Honestly, when did he become such an adorable dork?

 _“Chop chop, doctor!”_  The eldritch called from down the hall.

“Coming, boss!” Flug replied, slipping the bracelet out of his pocket and happily twirling it on his finger as he followed suit.


End file.
